Government

Divided Commission Voids $25 Ticket for New Canaan Man Who Parked Poorly Downtown

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Officials last week voided a $25 ticket issued to a New Canaan man who parked more than 12 inches from the curb on Main Street downtown one morning this summer. Joseph Somma told members of the Parking Commission during an appeal hearing that he’d been making a quick run from the New Canaan Field Club on the morning of June 24 (a Monday) to Baskin-Robbins to pick up ice cream for kids. A resident of New Canaan for 16 years, Somma spotted one parking space in front of the popular ice cream shop, pulled into it with his new truck and “didn’t realize how bad I did park,” he told the Commission during the Sept. 4 hearing, held at Town Hall. “I did park and I broke the rules.

Government

‘Just Because They Showed Up for Work’: New Canaan Remembers Victims of 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

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On a Tuesday morning 18 years ago, New Canaan commuters Joe Coppo and Eamon McEneaney boarded a train to get to their trading desks in lower Manhattan, the town’s highest elected official recalled. While those 46-year-old men started their day “as many Wall Streeters from New Canaan do,” Brad Fetchet, 24, who grew up in town “arrived early at his trading desk at the World Trade Center at the Wall Street Street firm he had just recently joined,” according to Kevin Moynihan. Within two hours of arriving for work, all three were killed. “Three shining souls among nearly 3,000 innocent people whose lives were taken at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, just because they showed up for work,” Moynihan told more the 120 residents, police, firefighters, EMTs, municipal workers and government officials gathered out front of Town Hall on a clear, sunny morning for a ceremony honoring those who perished during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and as a result of responding to it.

Board of Education

Officials Weigh Potential Conflict of Interest for Board of Ed Candidate  

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Though a New Canaan man’s tutoring business need not represent a conflict of interest should he win election to the Board of Education, he likely would be required to recuse himself in specific instances, officials said Monday night. Steve Eno three years ago launched Teachers Who Tutor, an online service designed to connect qualified tutors with the parents and students seeking them. The Democrat is seeking election to the Board of Ed in a contested race this fall. Eno himself requested an advisory opinion from the New Canaan Board of Ethics on whether the tutor matchmaking service represents a conflict of interest with respect to his duties if elected. Board of Ethics Chairman Tucker Clauss noted that the Board of Ed itself is empowered to revise its policies, and if the one regarding tutoring (see below) ever came before the elected body, Eno would need to recuse himself.

August Home Sales: Median Sales Price Down 11% Year-Over-Year

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Though the number of single-family homes sold in New Canaan was largely flat in August, the median sales price declined by 11% year-over-year, according to new data. Due largely to increases in sales up to $2 million, the total number of homes sold ticked up from 26 to 27 this August compared to last, according to data released by the New Canaan Board of Realtors. 

Yet the median sales price declined from $1,331,250 to $1,185,000 in the same period, the data show. Here’s a table summarizing the activity:

 

Year-to-date, the median sales price of single-family homes in New Canaan is down 7%, from $1.4 million to $1,302,500, according to the data. Homes for sale are spending fewer days on the market, according to the data—down from 184 days to 145, on average, a decline of 21%. Inventory is also down, as there were 281 homes on the market at month’s end, according to the data, compared to 333 the prior year.

News

District: Quality of Food Offered at Saxe Middle School Has Improved Dramatically

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Widely seen as inferior to the high school’s, the quality of cafeteria food at Saxe Middle School has improved dramatically under the district’s new food services director, officials said last week. The menu at Saxe has changed “significantly” under Michelle Santelli, and the cafeteria now has a salad bar with “nice fresh options,” according to Dr. Jo-Ann Keating, director of finance and operations at New Canaan Public Schools. “We moved our cook from the high school over to Saxe last year,” Keating told members of the Board of Education during their Sept. 3 meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “And she is phenomenal, she does a great job and she has brought a lot of that authentic cooking.